


Artifacts

by Celinejaneway



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-27 14:40:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10811052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celinejaneway/pseuds/Celinejaneway
Summary: Regina & Emma begin a tentative relationship as a past debt looms over their heads threatennig to destroy everything. SwanQueenTell me the story of how it all began. Lay out the details for me one by one. I can’t recall now how each moment passed. Were they agonizingly slow or faster than the light from the sun? I want to know how the course of history changed, how our history changed. I used to know the story well, better than the greatest historians ever could but now time has proven a thief of my memories. All I can recall is that it unfolded with a nightmare and ended with a bang.





	1. Love Like a Lion

**Author's Note:**

> In this story, Emma & Regina didn't stay in the wish version of the Enchanted Forest but jumped through the portal when they had the chance. The first name of a character in this story is different from current cannon, as it was written before her name was revealed on the show.
> 
> A very special thanks to Red Moon Creations for their generous donation to the ACLU.

                _Tell me the story of how it all began. Lay out the details for me one by one. I can’t recall now how each moment passed. Were they agonizingly slow or faster than the light from the sun? I want to know how the course of history changed, how our history changed. I used to know the story well, better than the greatest historians ever could but now time has proven a thief of my memories. All I can recall is that it unfolded with a nightmare and ended with a bang._

                The grandfather clock in the hall rang out its chime of midnight as an owl echoed through the house with an eerie woo. The ever present ticking of the clock haunted Regina on this sleepless night and the howling of the wind sent her skin crawling. The noises of her oversized empty house where normally a comforting music to her but the new ones of this particular night kept her eyes peeled on her bedroom ceiling. She heard a bird chirping as she eventually drifted off; it never occurred to her how out of place it was. 

                She had felt herself fall asleep but she could swear that she was still awake. The sudden disorienting feeling of floating jolted her senses.  Her legs lifted one by one followed by her arms and eventually her entire body floated above her bed. It hovered inches above the mattress and ascended painfully slow toward the ceiling. Without warning her perspective changed and she could see her body from the other side of the room. She was clad in her favorite silk pajamas, her hair matted from its recent contact with her pillow. If she hadn’t been so frightened the image might have been serene. Her new perspective was violently torn from her as she zoomed higher and higher bracing herself to smash into the ceiling. When she was inches from the textured panels, her body went through the ceiling; like a spirit passing into a new existence.

                Panic rose in her chest as she tried to flail her arms and legs but she couldn’t feel them. She was outside, where the unfamiliar new sounds of the night originated and had tormented her pre-sleep mind. Her backyard lay below her but not as it was now. It was as she remembered it during her son’s childhood. Toys were strewn all over the grass along with the swing set she had installed especially for the warm months of summer. All of these items had been removed when her son had outgrown them but here they were again just as freshly in her mind’s eye as if it were yesterday. Her body, if she dared call it that, began to lose altitude and plummeted to the back patio that sat along the white fencing outlining her property. The patio housed a red brick oven and it came into view at a startling speed. She swore she was going to crash right into it. She halted inches from its brick corners. She struggled to get her eyes to focus as she picked out an odd looking piece of paper jutting out from between two bricks and their crumbling mortar. It’s smudged and aged edges gave the paper’s age away.

                Regina tried to reach out but her hand went through the oven just as her body had the ceiling. She tried to turn and leave but she was paralyzed. The howling wind had seemed to die down but she could still hear a far off sound, too distant for her ears to discern completely. The closer the sound came the more she felt the sweet syrup of its tone.

                “Upon a stone of Earth lay ire, what long since thought dead cometh through fire.”

                Just as quickly as the words floated into her mind, she woke with a start flinging her body upright from where it lay in bed. She could feel her arms and legs again as sweat poured from her brow. The sensation of feeling her body was comforting but the rapid beat of her heart make it impossible to shake her state of anxiety.

**~~~~**

                It had been months since she and Emma had returned from Emma’s wish version of the Enchanted Forest. It had seemed all a blur since the day they fell through the portal. They had found an easy rhythm to their interactions. It was a tentative friendship as always but with a new curiosity about who the other really was. Now there was time for questions and stories, whereas before they only knew how the other reacted in dire situations. They had begun to truly see one another. 

                Ever since she had jumped with Emma’s hand so securely tucked into hers, everything had been quiet. A haunting quiet that she had never experienced in her life suddenly dominated her days. She had grown accustomed to fighting the next threat on the daily and for the first time since Emma had arrived in Storybrooke, the days looked the same. There wasn’t a new reason to run around flinging fireballs at some unimaginable monster every moment. Suddenly there was time to sip an espresso or hum a tune under her breath and she wasn’t sure how to manage in this new state of peace. It was calming but the quiet was still altogether unsettling. That’s when the nightmares had really begun.

                Mostly she dreamt that she was falling back into reality, not through a portal but through a series of her memories. Small moments from her time as the Evil Queen would surface that she hadn’t thought about in decades.  Unimportant moments like the way a mirror glowed off the moonlight or how she had started a spark with a snap of her fingers for the first time came flooding back to her.

                 The images came slowly; first a swirling pallet of color would blur her vision much like the strong winds of a tornado. She would inevitably be spit out into a deserted Storybrooke no matter where the dreams had taken her. The next night’s dream would compound on the one before, taking her further into her previous life but ultimately leaving her in a desolate place. Then finally she would see Robin’s confused face as she took Emma’s hand and left the final incarnation of him in another world. She didn’t regret choosing her family over the echo of a Robin she had once loved. Yet the dreams persisted. 

                The nightmare of the previous evening was altogether different and left Regina out of sorts.  She went about her morning routine trying her best to brush the fanciful images of her resting mind from her conscious. She had been tempted to venture into the yard and examine the bricks of the patio stove but thought better than to give in to such folly. Henry had already left for school an hour prior. She walked past her son’s bedroom and to the vanity in her room that sat next to her bed. She examined the creases next to her eyes and pulled at the skin below her chin. She now had the extra time to actually see herself in the mirror. From her window she could see the back yard and her attention was drawn to the red bricks of the patio stove. She didn’t make the decision to move her feet and descend the stairs but she felt her limps responding as if she had. The stairs creaked under her despite her light frame and she passed through the kitchen to the backyard. The dew covered grass of the morning soaked her shoes that she didn’t remember putting on and she was once again face to face with the crumbling corner of an oven she had never used.

                This time when she reached out she felt the cold hard surface of the stove. Just as in her nightmare she found the corner of a piece of paper sticking out from beneath the brick.  She paused at her prophetic discovery and pulled on the corner of what she could now tell was an envelope. She applied a light pressure, careful not to rip the fragile aging paper. It slipped out from under the brick with ease. It was a letter with large scrawl across the front addressed to her. She tore at the side of the envelope.

                My dearest,

                You owe a debt yet paid. I’ve come to collect from my betrayed and lay waste to what you so hastily made.

                                X

                Regina turned the paper in her hands looking for more, anything more. The twisted scrawl turned her stomach and caught her breath in her throat. It was a dripping cursive that etched the paper like a blade. She buried the letter in her inner blazer pocket and marched back into the kitchen.  She stopped suddenly and stood silently as she ran her fingers over the marble counters of her kitchen. She moved through the passageways of her house touching every surface she could, grounding herself to the here and now. She stood in the foyer staring at nothing in particular, trying to get used to the feel of ease again. It really was so foreign to her. She was beginning to realize she didn’t know how to let the tension of always fighting go and it looked like she might not have to.

                The day’s sun had begun to show through the west windows and Henry ran in the front door from school. As if in the blink of an eye it was afternoon and he was home to greet her. She hadn’t moved from the foyer and her coffee cup was still in hand; the letter burning her skin through her coat.

                “Mom, hey what are you doing here?  Did you get off work early?” Henry’s concerned gaze shook her from her thoughts.

                “Yes darling. I was just thinking that maybe we could have dinner with Emma and your grandparents this evening.” She let the smile that she reserved only for him creep to her cheeks; realizing that she had not in fact called in to work that morning.

                “Yes! Let me get my glove. Grandpa said we could play catch next time I saw him.” Henry diligently ran up the stairs to his room.

                Regina retrieved her cell phone from her pocket and dialed Emma without looking at the keys. Her concentration was still non-existent when the line began to ring. It continued until Emma’s crude message began to play.

**~~~~**

                The stairway to the Charming’s apartment was worn but clean. It was altogether unappealing despite the homey sense the loft carried. It occurred to Regina that she didn’t know a single other tenant of the building despite the numerous times she had been to their home. She held a pie in her arms as she knocked on the green apartment door. After an impossibly long beat, Emma swung the door open.

                “What are you guys doing here?” Emma questioned. Henry pushed past his mother and immediately went to find his grandparents. Regina froze in place realizing that she had never actually cleared their plan for dinner with anyone.

                “We are here for dinner.”

                “Oh crap. Did we have plans and I forgot?” Emma opened the door further and ushered Regina in with her arm pointed toward the kitchen.

                “Not exactly, I meant to call. I did call.” Regina began to fumble over her words. Emma held up a hand to stop the cascade.

                “No worries, per usual I don’t have plans.”

                “What about the pirate?” Regina had long since given up on hiding her distain for the miscreant.

                “Away.” One word was all it took to settle Regina.

                “Too bad.” Regina’s smile returned as she made little effort to hide her pleasure.

                Emma searched through the cabinets for something resembling dinner and decided upon spaghetti. Somewhere in between boiling the water and finding clean dishes, Regina had taken over and Emma was sitting at the kitchen island. Regina had even managed to find Emma a snack while she prepared their meal.

                “How have you been lately?” Regina suddenly interrupted the comfortable silence in the room.

                “What do you mean ‘how have I been’? I saw you yesterday.” Emma’s mouth was chock-full of crackers and cheese as she attempted to answer Regina.

                “How have you been sleeping?” Regina averted her gaze and stirred the warming tomato sauce.

                “Fine, are you not sleeping well.” Emma swallowed the last bite of her cheese and turned her attention to Regina.

                “I’m just making small talk, finish your snack.”

                “Nightmares?”  Emma questioned. Regina sighed heavily and balanced the wooden spoon over the boiling water. She finally met Emma’s eyes and shrugged.

                “I’ve caused enough horrors in my life that nightmares are my normal fare but that’s not what these are. They feel more intimate, more realistic.” Regina returned to the boiling water.

                “How?” Emma abandoned the plate of cheese she had been devouring.

                “I didn’t expect you to be the psychoanalytical type. They’re nothing really. Let’s eat shall we.” Regina poured the steaming pasta into a serving dish and took the food to the table. All the while, Emma watched concerned as Regina gracefully sidestepped the question. She was beginning to think her nightmares were the real reason for Regina showing up unannounced.           

**~~~~**

                Another night passed with the same nightmare greeting her again except for one small detail. Just before Regina woke the echoed line from the previous dream was repeated but louder in a voice that made her stomach churn. It instantly startled her awake. She skipped her morning obligations and ushered Henry off to school. The moment he left for class, she feverishly made her way to her beloved vault. She searched through her belongings that were still tucked away in every corner of the mausoleum. She tossed trunk after trunk from its storage space until she finally found a black leather satchel tucked securely into the final trunk that lined the wall. She slowly lifted the flap of it and removed a single thin book. Its well-worn cover showed the attention it had received over the years. She quickly opened it and it fell to the exact passage she had been looking for. The words jumped off the page, as they always had with each time she had read it. Its contents mirrored the verse that had echoed through her nightmare just as she had suspected.

 

                _Upon a stone of Earth lay ire, what long since thought dead cometh through fire_

_Even the smallest of faeries know, the watchful eye will never sow_

_A lover’s lost heart grows dim, when the wicked come to collect of him_

_Beware the secrets you hide in night, they’ll be reaped from you in the daylight_

 

                Regina dropped the book and let a fresh tear fall from her eyelashes. She fell back onto her knees and let the poetic words circle in her mind. She had been an innocent child the first time she had read them, trying to decipher their meaning. The last time however, she had been in her darkest of years and knew all too well what secrets being reaped felt like. She lifted the warn cover once more and smelled the aged pages; running her fingers along its binding. After studying it, she flung it against the stone wall in front of her. The books binding cracked and toppled to the ground. Regina twisted her fingers in the air and every piece of her former life that she had scattered across her vault was returned to its resting place. She wouldn’t let the prophecy she had learned of as a child, destroy her future.

**~~~~**

                The surprise dinner from the previous week had become the norm between the Swan and Mills clans. Whether it was an unplanned coffee run or takeout on Wednesdays, they were together. It wasn’t something they talked about per se but it wasn’t something that went unnoticed either.  This time Emma showed up at Regina’s office during her lunch hour and ushered her off to the new Italian restaurant in town. It was the third unannounced lunch they had spent together that week. Emma had been watching Regina closely since her admission about her nightmares and she could tell there was something eating at the former queen she wasn’t willing to share. The quiet of the past weeks had granted Emma a chance she had rarely had in her life, a chance to reflect. She had found that most of her thoughts had been consumed by Regina. She had never realized before just how much of her mental energy she relegated to the woman; everything from simple mundane thoughts of wonder to deep contemplations; each and every one centered on the mayor.

                They sat on the newly built wooden patio of Giuseppe’s. The sun shined directly above them and the breeze brought a welcome coolness to the late spring air. Neither Emma nor Regina was ever put out by the unannounced visits but instead increasingly intrigued. Regina had never been one to be spontaneous but she now found herself looking forward to Emma showing up at her home and office. They fell into an easy silence as the waiter brought their food. Emma caught herself staring as Regina ate her salad, mesmerized for no particular reason but gawking none the same. She tried to pull herself from the trance.

                “Have you tried anything to make the nightmares go away?” Emma tried to focus on the Reuben in front of her and not on how Regina delicately placed every bite on her tongue, every bit the former royal.

                “No.” Regina didn’t make eye contact as she changed the subject. “Henry will need at least 20 hours of supervised drive time to get his license. You’re schedule has more flexibility than mine. I trust you can teach our son to drive without imparting all of your bad habits behind the wheel?” Regina arched her eyebrow with a smirk and returned to her salad.

                “I’m not making any promises but back to the fact that you keep changing the subject. Have you had any different dreams?”

                “Just the same one.”

                “Maybe Dr. Hooper can give us some insight?”

                “Us, I don’t recall the dream being a shared state. I don’t want to involve anyone else.”

                “Ok then maybe I can help you interpreted it.”

                “It seems to me that we rely on each other too often.” Regina let the statement escape her mouth before she could vet it. Emma’s face contorted with confusion as Regina immediately began to back track. “Never mind, I need to get back to work.”

                She quickly gathered her things and left the patio. The truth was that the nightmares had increased tenfold each with a new landscape and out of body experience followed by an assault on Regina’s most closely guarded secret. She had become more irritable after each dream but found she could comfort the unfounded anger by spending time with Emma. Today was the first time she had thrown that anger at her lunch date instead.

**~~~~**

                Regina’s mind rocked back and forth between the images of her floating over her house and Emma. She had felt a pull in her chest as she sat with her at lunch; the first clear sign it was the beginning of the end to her ill kept secret affections. A familiar shot of adrenaline coursed through her veins and hummed under her sternum as she quieted her thoughts. The sensation had stayed with her into the night and now fought her efforts at sleep. As she finally drifted off, images of the Enchanted Forest encompassed her. She was flying above the water that separated her kingdom from the next and watched the ships dock as night fell. The sailors made hasty work of unloading covered cargo and shouting songs of the sea as they did so. She could feel the cold tinge of darkness creeping at her neck as the sun set.

                “Where have you been hiding, Your Majesty?” A sick soprano voice squealed.

                Regina turned to see the Black Fairy in her deceiving beauty inches from her face. She tried to speak but found that she couldn’t make a sound, her throat tightening the more she tried.  The fairy inched ever closer and ran a single finger over Regina’s shoulder and down her arm.

                “Whoops, fairy got your tongue. Consider this a friendly reminder.  You owe me a debt and I always collect. There’s a storm coming your way, one you aren’t going to survive even if you have True Love’s magic on your side. Speaking of, the glow of it on your skin really is a sickening color. I will find which realm you’re hiding in.” The Black Fairy leaned in quaintly and kissed the corner of Regina’s mouth. “For old time sake, now wakey, wakey.”

                Regina shot up in a cold sweat back in her own bed. Her heart was racing as she tried to see in the pitch black of her bedroom. She stumbled over her night stand to reach the phone and immediately dialed the last person she wanted to speak to.

                “This better be good.” Rumple sneered sleep still distinct in his voice.

                “Donella is coming.”       


	2. Drag the Wind

                The wind had picked up as the hours drug on; throwing dust into the air. The stars were the only aspect of the night that seemed calm. Since her frantic phone call, Regina had yet to calm her rapidly beating heart. She rushed to Rumple’s choosing not to change but instead threw a suede coat over her silk pajamas. The lights to Rumple’s shop were on, where he was no doubt waiting for her. She swung the front door open, shutting it quickly behind her to keep the swirling dust out. 

                “This sudden storm is rather unsettling, dear. I assume you are to blame for it.” Rumple didn’t lift his head from the book he was studying. She feverishly recounted her dream to him minus the moment of intimacy with Donella. 

                Rumple’s face contorted in anger, he immediately went into a fit as he threw items around his shop and glass shards scattered over the floor. Regina was used to such behavior from him and readily ignored his childish outburst. Though she found his anger distasteful, she understood the emotions behind it. Donella had abandoned him and was in part to blame for what he had become.

                “I cannot believe you were stupid enough to make a deal with my mother. You’d think the years of sour deals with me would have educated you on the down sides of such transactions.”

                “If you’re quite finished.”

                “What do you owe her?”

                “She was vague in what she wanted. I was the Evil Queen; I didn’t think I had anything to lose. I can’t explain the twisted nature of your mother’s mind, she could want anything.” Regina hid behind her explanation, not lying outright. Rumple studied her face and quickly encroached on her personal space pushing her up against the door, his hand against her throat.

                “You’re hiding something. You’ve always been an amateur liar. My mother doesn’t come snooping for nothing. What are you hiding?” Regina arched her eyebrow and pushed him off of her, quickly circling him and pushing his back into the door.

                “I didn’t come here for the inquisition. Do you know how to stop her?” Pointing as she spoke, Regina let her eyes burn into him as the words smacked into his face. Rumple considered her for a moment and nudged past her heading toward a locked cabinet. He pulled a necklace from under his shirt that dangled from around his neck. It carried a single golden key. The key levitated from his grip and entered the lock, turning as it did. As the carved wooden door of the cabinet swung open, a small vile floated to his hand. He sauntered back to Regina and handed her the vile.

                “Drink it.” He giggled.

                “You must think me a fool. What is it?”

                “I know how to defeat the Black Fairy but I won’t help you while you’re keeping secrets from me. Drink it and you’ll speak only the truth. Then I will help you.” Rumple drummed his fingers together as he watched the anger overwhelm her.  She placed the vile on the counter and slammed the door behind her.

                The cool wind swept the hair from her face and the tears that spilt from her eyes stung with the effort she had fought to keep them in. She wiped at them fiercely and pulled the tattered fairy book from her jacket. After spending most of the afternoon combing through her memory for the exact words of the poem, she retrieved the book in its broken state from the floor of her vault. As she recited the poem, an inkling of a memory tugged at her mind.  She swatted it away in an attempt to focus. Regina looked back toward the pawn shop and saw Rumple searching through his immense collection of spell books. He gave no mind to Regina has she tiptoed back into the night.

~~~

                The cracked veneer of the yellow VW bug hadn’t aged as slowly as Emma would have liked. It seemed to have taken a turn for the worst as of late and she was enjoying every precious moment she could get out of her old stolen friend. They hadn’t taken a trip in her beat up car for some time and she was looking forward to a crisis free adventure with Regina. It had been awfully quiet lately and Regina had been the center of that quiet. Their impromptu meals with Henry were lovely but Regina hadn’t been herself as of late. So she invited Regina to go for a short drive to get Henry supplies for the coming school year. Under Regina’s direction, they were headed to Boston, as the supplies in Storybrooke were inadequate for their son.

                “I want to be home before sun fall and preferably in one piece.” Regina demanded as she slid into the passenger seat.

                The car ride started out with a still air until it become just a little too quiet for Emma. She turned the dial on the radio and serendipity on her side, the sweeping melody of the song that reminded her of Regina, sounded through the speakers. The tune took over the air between them and a small tone wiggled into Emma’s ear. She didn’t hear it so much as feel it, such a whispered voice that Emma had to look at Regina to see for sure.  She craned her neck slightly so as not to frighten the sound away. Regina was singing. Her voice was low and husky but soothing. Though Emma had tried to bring the subject up on a few occasions, every time she began to mention the nightmares; Regina would retreat into anger and run off.

                If she was honest with herself, something had changed. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it but she felt changed. Regina watched as Emma chewed on her bottom lip and by the looks of it was having an argument with the road. She chuckled to herself and placed a hand on Emma’s shoulder to draw her attention.

                “Are you winning?”

                “What?”

                “The argument that you’re clearly having with someone in your head.” Regina scrunched her nose in approval at her own terrible joke.

                “Oh uh well It’s more of a rehearsal of what I wanted to talk to you about.” Emma brought her eyes back to the road. “Don’t get mad but we aren’t actually headed to the city.” Regina’s expression went from questioning to rage in the blink of an eye.

                “Pull over. Now.”

                “Nope, we are going to talk about this. Normally I’m the one running from anything resembling a personal problem but we’re a team and if you’re having a hard time, then we are having a hard time.”

                “You realize I could poof out of here even if you don’t stop.”

                “Please don’t.” Emma continued to drive. Regina sighed heavily and turned her attention to the scattered trees as they passed. They put 20 miles in between them and Storybrooke before Regina began to stir in her seat. Emma knew her well enough to let her be the one to speak first. Instead Regina reached in the breast pocket of her blazer and retrieved the letter from her first dream. She handed it to Emma without looking at her.

                “I assume you’ll pull over to read it.”  Emma turned the wheel and slowly veered the car to the shoulder of the road. She read silently. When she was finished she took great care in folding the letter as it had been and returning it to its envelope.

                “This is why you’ve been having nightmares?”

                “Yes.” Regina nodded slightly. Emma’s brow furrowed and she flung opened the car door. She began to pace the field she had pulled over next to before Regina could get any explanation in. Regina sat for a moment but eventually followed her and watched as she fretted over the letter.

                “Why didn’t you tell me? I can’t protect you if I don’t know what’s going on.”

                “It’s not your job to protect me. Savior or not this is my mess and I will fix it.”

                “Yes it is and not because I’m the Savior. We do this together.” Emma’s defiant eyes made it clear there was no arguing the point.

                “Ok together.” Regina swallowed her rising tears at Emma’s concern for her, ever aware that Emma still didn’t have the whole truth.

 

~~~`

                Chatter from the dozens of residents that filled the packed town hall drowned some of the anxiety that boiled up in Regina’s chest. Her finger nails scratched at the wood podium in front of her. She had gone over the dream in her mind numerous times and couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that overwhelmed her. Despite Emma’s reassurance that they could conquer anything together she alone knew the weight of what she owed Donella.

                “Order, please take your seats.” Regina’s voice rang through the dim. “We don’t have much time, there’s a new threat to Storybrooke that cannot be ignored. The Black Fairy has made it known that she is heading to town. Precautions are being taken to seal the only known portals to town and weapons are being devised as we speak. She does not currently know which realm Storybrooke is in, thanks to previous attempts to secure our town. You will all be split up into groups according to your skill sets. David, please begin.”

                As David began to address the crowd, Regina slipped behind the curtained stage, bent to place her hands on her knees and took a deep breath. Her heart had begun to quicken again and she could feel the flush on her face. The small enclosure gave her a moment’s peace to sort through her pilling emotions.

                “You ok?” Emma’s voice called from the opposite corner of the stage. She slowly approached as Regina rolled up to her full height.

                “Yes I’m fine.”

                “You see, that line might work on the masses but I know better. What’s on your mind? Beyond the obvious we are all in peril again thing.” Emma pulled up two empty boxes that lined the back wall and plopped down next to Regina, urging her to do the same. A small smile and swaying of her head, showed Regina’s pleasure at how well Emma really knew her.

                “There were parts of the nightmares that I had, that I didn’t share with Rumple.” 

                “I’m sure you had your reasons, care to share them with me.” Emma gave her signature ‘five year old with a heart of gold’ expression and Regina began to fidget with her fingers.

                “Donella…the Black Fairy and I have a history, one Rumple doesn’t know about.”

                “What kind of history?”

                “An intimate history. She knows me more than I care to admit. Rumple doesn’t know about our entanglement but the more important part that I kept from him…”

                “It’s me Regina; you don’t have to hide anything from me.” Emma carefully placed her hand over Regina’s and when she didn’t flinch, she took it into her own. Regina bit the bottom corner of her lip and watched as Emma’s thumb swirled in circles along the edge of her hand. She felt the same pull in her chest as she had the day they had lunch. It urged her to close the space between them, though her mind screamed for her to build up her steel walls again.

                Emma recognized the searching in Regina’s eyes and leaned in ever so slightly, stopping to see if she had crossed a line. Regina closed her eyes and breathed in the heavy scent of Emma’s shampoo; neither noticing as a small white light radiated from their touching hands. Their lips were achingly close when the ruffling of the stage curtain caused them both to jump back.

                 “Regina, I think it’s…oh I’m sorry excuse me.” David quickly closed the opening in the curtain and stood with his arms crossed waiting on the other side. Regina soon immerged with her mayoral mask firmly intact, as Emma exited the far stage door.

                 “I didn’t realize you and my daughter wer-“

                “We aren’t. That wasn’t what it looked like.”

                “Right” David directed Regina to the divided groups.

~~~

                The surprise visits stopped as did almost all of the communication they had shared over the last few weeks. Regina busied herself with preparation for the coming battle and spent what little free time she had with Henry. Though he begged for time with both of his mothers, Regina found excuses to keep her distance. The dreams hadn’t halted but rather they had become more vivid and clearer as time went on. She began to write the new details down and searched with Rumple through his collection of magical artifacts for answers, not once mentioning the fairy poem she carried in her pocket daily.

                On this particular odd Tuesday, she was sprawled out on the floor of Rumple’s shop surrounded by every obscure book or reference to fairies that she could find. Her legs were beginning to ache after hours of sitting on the cold wood paneled floor. She craned her neck back and forth in an attempt to release the tension that had built up in her shoulders.  Regina’s growing list of ingredients for her latest attempt at a weapon was becoming more overwhelming by the minute. The previous day she had disabled the entry bell on the front door after the wind make easy work of activating it. The light foot steps behind her went unnoticed as she concentrated on the text of a rather useless book.

                “Hey stranger,” Emma placed a hand on Regina’s shoulder as she spoke. Regina jumped; toppling the stack of books she had arranged behind her and placed a hand over her chest.

                “Are you insane?! You can’t sneak up on people like that. What are you doing here?” Regina tried to get her footing but slipped on an open page. Emma made quick work of grabbing her arm and helping her out of the quicksand of books that had developed around her.

                “I gotta admit this was the last place I thought I would find you but I was out of options.”

                “Well you found me, what do you need?”

                “Are you serious? Regina the last time I saw you we were about to make out behind a curtain. I think a conversation is in order don’t you?”

                As soon as Emma mentioned what was now being referred to as ‘the incident’ in Regina’s mind, she cut off eye contact and began to pick up the stray books and stack them on the glass counter beside her. She didn’t answer Emma or acknowledge the question in the least.

                “Dammit Regina look at me!” Regina slammed the books that she had been cradling down and turned on her heels like a Marine. Her gaze was stone cold and her lip curled into an unmistakable Evil Queen grin.

                “I’m sorry; I’m not sure what came over me. You caught me in a moment of weakness. It won’t happen again. Now that we’ve talked, feel free to leave.” Regina smoothed the nonexistent wrinkles from her coat, smiled a tight lipped smile and went back to her stack of manuscripts.

~~~

                Music slithered through the hallway, a sticky sweet melody that enraptured Emma’s ears. When she had gone to sleep she had laid her head on her pillow in the loft. Now however, she was in the guest bedroom of Regina’s house. She thought nothing of it and threw a sweater on, stumbling down the stairs toward the entrancing notes. She hadn’t seen Henry as she passed his room but she hadn’t seen much of anything as she let the melody dictate her actions.

                She had expected to find a radio blaring or perhaps the television on but all the rooms were empty as she examined them. Day had yet to break and a small stream of light from the street lamps creeped through the windows creating a path for her feet to follow. Following the sound, she stumbled through the kitchen and swung open the patio doors that lead to the back yard.

                The wind kicked up as she flew through the entry way, the doors slamming behind her. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw where the music was coming from. An ebony baby grand was placed in the middle of the yard, polished to shine in the moon light. Her glance worked its way to the pianist. Regina’s hands ran over the keys but her eyes never left their position staring straight ahead. The wind blew her hair from her face, revealing the blood red lipstick she was wearing that matched her gown perfectly.

                “Regina!” Emma screamed but her voice didn’t make a sound. She tried again to no avail.

                The song continued to intensify as Emma realized she had no memory of Regina being able to play the piano. She watched as the image became a trance, her eyes blurring to see only Regina. Her shoeless toes sinking into the dew covered grass, she watched as the passion of the song overwhelmed Regina and a solitary tear found her cheek.  The music seemed to speak to every question Emma had ever had and she let the tune wash over her. The time she spent listening could have stretched out for eons but just as abruptly as the song had greeted her it left.

                Regina was suddenly inches from her face and beaming. She traced Emma’s jawline with the back of her knuckles and quietly placed a delicate kiss upon her lips before leaning in and whispering into her ear.

                “Happy anniversary, my love.”

                As the words swirled in Emma’s ears, a storm cloud raged above them. Where the clear sky and sparkling stars had been moments before, it was now a swirl of black and gray. Electricity stood the hairs on her arms up and crackled in her ears, replacing Regina’s sweet words. The wind was deafening as the clouds swirled to create a vortex of gray.

                “Enjoy your dreams; you will never experience your love in the waking hours.” The voice cracked through the sky as if it had come from a bolt of lightning.

                The Black Fairy suddenly held Regina by the throat and she and the storm vanished, leaving Emma in the cold light of morning sans a piano or an explanation for how she had woken up in the Mayor’s backyard.


	3. It's Not That Simple

In the harsh light of day, Regina’s dreams seemed even more eerie than by the cast of night. The same memory that had been tugging at her thoughts since she walked the damp streets of Storybrooke nights before continued to bring an image of her as a child to her mind. She had given up on any thoughts of sleep days prior. Thus her irritability was heightened and her ability to think diminished. She quickly dressed for the day and walked to open her bedroom window to let the fresh post-rain air in. As she scanned her familiar view she was startled by the body of a blonde asleep in the grass in her backyard. She darted down the stairs, barely getting both her shoes on before leaping out the back door.

“Emma!” Regina was at her side before she had even begun to guess why she was there. She didn’t stir at her first touch. The light that had been present at their almost kiss returned as Regina’s hand rested on Emma’s shoulder but once again it went unnoticed. “Come on Emma, wake up for me.” Regina began to fiercely shake her.

“Huh…Woah, what.” Emma sprung up from the ground and stared at Regina half terrified. “How the hell did I get here?”

“I don’t know. What is the last thing that you remember?” Regina helped her to her feet and began to walk her to the house; having difficulty getting her balance. Regina quickly put her arm around Emma and took the brunt of her weight onto her shoulder.

“I remember being in my room and falling asleep.” Emma swallowed hard.

“That explains your attire.” Regina pointed to the scantily clad Emma who was wearing a night shirt and not much else. Regina ushered her upstairs where she sat her on the corner of her bed and quickly picked out more suitable clothing.

“I was dreaming. There was a song and...” Emma’s face turned white and her shoulders tensed as she relived why she was in the backyard.

“Emma?” Regina went to her side and tried to feel her forehead but Emma flinched away. She grabbed the sweats that Regina had been holding and ran out of the room and down the stairs. Regina heard the front door slam before she could turn to see her leave.

~~~

 

The noises of a busy café don’t change much from place to place, a fact Emma had ingrained from her childhood. The clank of forks and knives against worn plates, the shriek of sneakers along black and white tile, the constant dripping of brewing coffee and the order up bell dinging flooded her senses. She had ventured to Granny’s out of habit and now sat alone starring at a cold cup of coffee. Emma had run straight home after waking up in Regina’s back yard. She sat in a scalding bath tub and curled her knees into her chest as she tried to calm herself. The past months had been trying in their clarity. Before when Storybrooke was constantly under attack, it was easy to let the nagging feelings or lingering thoughts go when there was something more pressing at hand. But suddenly her world was in good order and the voice of her heart was harder to stifle.

She hadn’t seen Regina since she had run from her bedroom, which was probably for the best. She could still feel the very real sensation of Regina’s breath on her ear as her dream played on her very real desires. She’d be lying if she said there hadn’t been other warning signs of her growing affection for the Mayor, ones dating back much earlier than the town hall incident. They had come to a slight truce in their relationship over the years and Emma didn’t want to rock the boat with her possible feelings. It was much easier to keep them to herself but now her dreams were making that nearly impossible.

“You really are predictable, Swan.” Regina’s voice echoed from behind her. “The first place I look for you and here you are.” Emma didn’t turn to acknowledge her. Instead she added an absurd amount of sugar to her temperate coffee.

“Emma are you listening to me? You can’t show up unconscious in my yard and just run away. Although that was the first time I’ve ever had someone run from my bedroom before.” Regina sat in the booth across from Emma with her eyebrow raised in amusement.  Emma slowly raised her gaze, her eyes each displaying darkened circles below them. Her impossibly tired expression was unchanged as she moved her lips.

“What do you owe The Black Fairy?” The question took Regina by surprise; she had taken for granted the fact that Emma had yet to question her about the details of her deal with Donella.

“It doesn’t matter. She isn’t getting it.” Regina answered. Emma sighed heavily pulling her elbows up onto the table and setting her head in her hands.

“I’m tired.”

“I’ll take you home to get some rest.”

“No I mean tired of fighting. It’s all too much.” Images from her dream of Regina being whisked away by the Black fairy intensified in her mind’s eye. She was finding it more difficult every moment not to sweep Regina up into her arms and protect her from whatever might be coming.

“Then leave, no one asked you to fight for our family.” Regina stood suddenly and got the attention of every patron in Granny’s.  As she stood she knocked over a salt shaker and rumbled the table. She let the hurt echo through her features as she stared at Emma and suddenly bolted through the door. The sting of Regina’s words felt like the spilt salt had been sprinkled over an open wound. Emma hurried after her.

“What do you owe her?” Her voice came from the doorway as Regina crossed the street. She turned to see Emma in the entryway.

“Emma, it’s not that simple.”

“I saw her; she came to me in a dream.” Emma’s eyes were fraught with anger and a mixture of tears.  “I thought I was going crazy, I thought my feelings were playing tricks on me but now I think she was telling the truth.” Emma stood unmoving in front of the open door. Regina had slowly moved toward her as she was talking and now held her gaze, the street still separating them.

“Please don’t make me tell you. I won’t risk it.” Regina turned and headed toward the water.

Emma again chased after her, only catching up with her when she reached the docks near the ship yard. She watched as Regina placed her face in her palm and put her weight against the iron railing. The sun was high in the afternoon sky.  Emma slowly walked toward Regina counting her steps to calm her heart. When she was inches away, Regina twirled to meet her. She stood up straighter and waited for Emma to approach.

 “Regina, this isn’t us. I thought we got past all the lying. It took so many years for us to build trust. Why hide from me now?” Emma’s eyes pleaded with more vulnerability than she had ever shown the former Queen.  She reached out her hand and tentatively placed it over Regina’s on the railing, picking it up gently and placing it between both of hers. The small white light appeared again. Regina’s face froze as she saw it. “Tell me what’s going on?” Regina breathed a heavy sigh with tears in her eyes as she stared at their touching hands. Emma brought Regina down to sit on a nearby bench with her. Emma was still none the wiser to the small light.

“When I was the Evil Queen, I knew Rumple’s mother, Donella. I didn’t know who she was when I meet her and I didn’t care. She had something I needed and I made a deal for it. Yes, we had an intimate entanglement but that’s not why she’s here.”

“She’s come to collect, she’s made that clear but what is it that you promised her?” Emma squeezed Regina’s hand a little tighter.

Regina’s blood ran cold as the icy memory of her time with Donella came flooding back to her. She had been the reigning queen of terror in the Enchanted Forrest for some time and she found her days to be rather dull if not all together uneventful. The vengeance for Snow White that had often carried her wasn’t enough to fill all the spaces in her hollow heart.

Like most things that Regina considered to be the worst in her life, she stumbled upon Donella. She was trying to enact a poor man’s version of the curse that would eventually fling her to Storybrooke. She needed ingredients that only the fairies could provide. She had tried to procure the items from the fairies she already knew but her reputation had caused her strife as always. When she had all but given up on this particular road of revenge, Donella appeared on her balcony.

“A little birdy told me you’re in the market for some Elves thistle.”

“So the forest does have ears. Are you offering?”

“At a price.” Donella sauntered into the Queen’s quarters with abandon. Her lithe figure and dark edges intrigued Regina.

“The amount is of no concern to me, I am the Queen.”

“What I require is far more valuable than money. Should I provide you with Elves thistle you will owe me a piece of your future.”

“There are no parts of my future worth having.”

“Then what’s the harm?” Donella outstretched her hand and offered a hand to seal the deal. Regina quickly took it and a small vile appeared on her vanity. Donella quickly disappeared but her voice left a subtle whisper behind.

“You’ll know your debt has come due when a runaway wren comes chasing after you.”

Regina shook herself free from the memory.

“I promised her a piece of my future. When I made the deal, I had nothing of value to take beyond possessions but when Henry came into my life that all changed. I was always terrified that she would come to Henry’s crib at night and steal him away but year after year she didn’t. He’s not what she’s after. I didn’t realize that until I heard this line in my dreams.” Regina handed her the book with the fairy poem in it.

The memory she had been swatting away since her visit to her vault, assaulted her senses as she touched one end of the book and Emma the other. She couldn’t have been more than eight years old, a far cry from the anger ravaged woman she would become. Her brunette ringlets framed her face and her dress a pristine blue. Her father had given her many presents as a child but her favorites were always books. He would venture out into the kingdoms on errands for her mother but always return with a gift for her as well. This particular time he had been gone for weeks to a land she had never heard of. He always returned with stories of intrigue from these new lands.

He waited until her mother fell asleep and sat before the dancing flames of the fire in the great room. He brought spices for her to smell and silk clothes for her to feel. He spoke of the mighty kings and sorcerers of the far off kingdom and just as she thought her heart couldn’t be fuller; he pulled a present from behind his back. The gold wrapping unwound under impatient hands as she tried to get to her gift quicker. The leather bound pages smelled of lavender and glowed in the ember enriched light. She read its pages feverishly. It spoke of a wicked heart who would one day find the greatest of loves only for it to be ripped from her hands. Little did she know on that first fateful night that she was reading her own story.

She was again pulled to the current moment with Emma’s hand in her. She let the tears brim over her eyelashes and did nothing to wipe them from her face. “This is my mistake, and I should have to deal with it on my own. Take Henry and your family and leave Donella to me.” She looked to their interwoven hands. Emma’s gaze followed her hers and her eyes widened at the sight of the small pulsing light. Emma’s voice was small as she began to speak.

“If not Henry then what is she after, Regina?” Emma didn’t move, watching as Regina turned and dropped her hand. She looked to the floor and wrung her hands, slowly she looked up to meet Emma’s gaze.

“You.”

“Me? How could she even have known about me back then?” Emma rose from the bench as she spoke.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.

“Fairytales have been coming to life all around me for the past five years, try me.”

“Like Rumple, Donella has a certain amount of seer in her. She can detect strings that bind people despite time and space. “

“What is that light, Regina? Tell me the whole truth.” Emma raised her voice, tiring of Regina’s protective charade.

“She thinks you’re my true love.” Regina gave the revelation a beat to sit in the air between them. She didn’t tear her eyes from Emma as she watched her jaw slack and her eyes go wide. “Obviously she is mistaken; you don’t view me that way. Despite how it would make sense, the Evil Queen and the Savior, that isn’t the case and I can’t seem to convince her otherwise.” Emma hadn’t moved much in the last thirty seconds letting the weight of the truth hit her with its full force in her chest.

“What if she isn’t wrong?” Emma whispered her words.  The small hairs on Regina’s neck stood up as she turned to see the small sweet smile creeping up on Emma’s face. She followed Emma’s eyes as they travelled from the floor to meet hers. Suddenly no longer tentative, Emma stepped forward and brushed Regina’s bangs behind her ear. She placed her palm on Regina’s cheek and the brunette instinctively leaned into it. Emma brushed her thumb along Regina’s cheekbone without moving her hand.

“I always thought it was just me.” Regina confessed. Emma let the breath she had been holding escape her lungs. She leaned forward meeting the red frosted lips of a Queen. The flash of colored light that escaped from their kiss radiated along the dock and well beyond their line of sight.

As they parted a rumble shook the dock, throwing Regina and Emma to the ground.  The wooden planks they stood on creaked and bowed about to break under the pressure of the seizing. The concrete that lined the wooden walkway cracked along the boardwalk and spit clouds of broken cement into the air.

“There you are, Your Majesty.” The sick lithe voice of the Black Fairy echoed through the room. “I thought I’d never find what realm you were hiding in.” Regina drug herself to her feet and pulled Emma closer to her and in a puff of purple magic moved them to her vault. Without hesitating she left Emma in the confines of the underground sanctuary and quickly puffed out of existence once more. Emma tried to summon her own magic but before she had the chance to, Regina was back with Henry in tow.

“What are you doing Regina, we have to fight. “ Emma hugged Henry quickly without taking her eyes off of Regina.

“Not until I know our son is safe.”

“Mom I’m fine. What’s going on?” Henry looked back and forth between his mothers panicked. He had been at a friend’s house when his mother puffed into existence next to him and whisked him away.

“There’s about to be an attack and I need you to stay here. I’ve sealed the vault. The Black fairy won’t be able to enter under any circumstances.  I love you.” She kissed his cheek and reached out for Emma’s hand as she hugged him, slowly bringing his other mother into the fold. As they parted, Regina gave Henry one last smile and a cloud of purple brought Emma and Regina to the town square. Regina looked up.

“Is this what you want, what you’ve spent all these years waiting to take from me? Regina shouted to the sky. “Just in case you need directions, follow the light!” She plunged heart first into Emma’s lips again and encircled her face with her hands. She left her final piece of lingering doubt on the ground as she fiercely kissed Emma. She brought her body up against Emma’s and moved them up against the clock tower’s pillars.

The instant their lips had touched an overwhelming white light burst from the spot where their bodies meet. It was more intense that the first kiss they had shared. Both stared in wonder as the light radiated through the square. The light that had emanated from their touch still seared their eyes but nothing happened. The rolling thunder of an attack never came and Regina stood dumb founded in the middle of the street.

~~~

The short walk to the Charming’s apartment was a trepidatious one to say the least. Regina had followed Emma as they left the town square confused. They walked up the flight of creaky stairs to the green door and stopped. There was suddenly so much out in the open but neither voiced a word about the new state of their relationship. Emma walked a few paces ahead of Regina and never once looked back. The moments were heavier than she expected and gave her pause  when she confirmed her memories, there was no going back for them now.

Emma let the keys jingle as she looked for the appropriate one. She went to turn the key but the door swung open before she could. Snow’s startled face greeted them.

“Oh Emma, you scared me. Come in, Henry’s not here but I think he said he was at John’s house.” Snow ushered them in with a smile.

“He’s at Regina’s we just picked him up. Were you just about to leave?” Emma questioned as she put her keys in the bowl by the door.

“No I heard a noise in the hall and went to check it out. Why were you just standing there?”

“Couldn’t find my key.”

“Snow.” Regina interjected. “Do you remember the fairy wars your father fought in?” Regina sat on the lounge chair in the corner as she asked. Snow’s expression of distaste proved she remembered all too well. “Did they use any forms of deception before attacking?

“You know all too well how notorious fairies can be when it comes to deception. Even the good ones are known to stretch the truth. Has there been a development with the Black Fairy?” Snow sat next to her with worry etched into her face.

 “You could say that. Do you remember this poem?” Regina retrieved the book once more. As Snow’s eyes drug over the page. A light went on in her mind.

“You read this poem to me as a child and said it was a prophecy of a great fairy war that tore a Queen apart.” Snow let her features lighten as she remembered one of the few happy memories she had with Regina before vengeance took over. She let the moment pass over her and quickly closed the books pages.  “If this is what is coming, then we have much work to do.”

 


	4. Boom, Boom Shake the Room

 

It didn’t come with a flurry of lightning and a clap of thunder nor a tornado or an enveloping purple cloud. Instead the night was peaceful and the air still and sweet. The most unexpected of evils lurk where peace has begun to linger. Regina’s chest rose and fell in a slow manner; she had found it easier to sleep now that her nightmares had seized. Her dreams had been mild despite the fact her preoccupied mind couldn’t think of anything but Emma even when there were bigger problems to solve. She had left her window cracked to let the night breeze in and the soft rumble of the leaves from her apple tree lulled her to sleep.

“This is her?!” A booming laugh resonated through Regina’s bedroom; a cackle bone chilling enough to wake the dead. “She’s down right laughable and not fit for a Queen. Whatever do you see in her?”  Regina jumped from her bed and watched the spectacle that was unfolding before her. The side of her bedroom wall had been punched in taking the window with it. Donella floated before her clad in a corset that could choke the life out of a skeleton and a large black cloak that flowed from her shoulders to her toes. She was the dark vision that Regina remembered her to be, not a day of age upon her face since the last time they had seen each other.

Donella stopped just above the ground and whistled. A sleeping Emma floated through the hole in the wall and stopped next to her. Emma’s hair floated in midair as if a pillow held her head in place, her sleeping smile a picture of serenity. Regina’s first reaction was to kill first, ask questions later. She flung herself at Donella with her arm outstretched, it impacted Donella’s chest instead of retrieving her heart as Regina had planned.

“I do know you a little better than that.” Donella picked up a stray piece of Regina’s cocoa hair and ran it through her fingers. Regina swiftly lifted her right arm and settled for a punch square to her jaw. Donella slowly brought her face back to glare at Regina, a new glistening streak of blood running down her lip. She smiled and with the flick of her forefinger, Emma began to convulse. Regina summoned her own powers and threw a wave of red toward Donella.

“What do you want Black Fairy?” Regina let the words tear through her mouth.

“I do suppose that an explanation might make this whole ordeal go a bit faster.” Donella again flicked her wrist and Emma floated toward Regina’s bed still sound asleep. Her body hovered above the sheets blissfully unaware anything was wrong. “It’s not so much a ‘who’ but more a ‘what’ that I want. I know you’ve kept our involvement from being common knowledge so why drudge up the past but unfortunately there is an unpaid favor you still owe me, if you recall.”

Regina looked to Emma’s sleeping form. She darted to her side and intertwined their fingers. She quickly let the contact fuel her magic and threw a fireball at Donella. It seared the skin on her shoulder and burned the black velvet that covered it. She winced through the pain and threw her own spiral of magic at Regina, knocking out the door and part of the stair case behind it; nicking Regina’s forearm in the process.

“This is only the beginning.” Donella held her arm as she disappeared into the night. Emma began to rouse from her sleep, her hand still in Regina’s. She tensed and pushed herself up onto her knees smacking into the back board as she darted back.

“Regina?!” Her face was as pale as an eggshell and her hands were trembling. Regina didn’t let go of her hand and tried to quiet her anxiety with a small brush of her hand on Emma’s shoulder.

“It’s ok, you’re safe; breath for me.” Regina used her softest tone that was normally reserved for Henry as she tried to bring Emma back to the present moment. Emma’s eyes began to tear as the pain of Donella’s shock rang through her veins. She rocked back and forth on her heels and she brought her knees into her chest. Regina immediately brought Emma into her arms and cradled her head as she rode out the wave of fear that coursed through her.

~~~~~

The battles had taken their toll on everything in Storybrooke. The ashes of burnt buildings smoldered in the morning light as the sun rose over the destruction of their quaint seaside town. Every corner of it was in shambles, including the Mayor’s mansion. The constant flow of crimson stained the carpet as the wound on Regina’s arm refused to heal. When the attacks had begun, Snow suggested sending the children away and sealing off the borders of the town. Though it had worked to protect the children, the barrier left the remaining townspeople in incredible danger as the Black Fairy was still brutally winning every battle she waged.  Emma had tried everything she could, every obscure spell and medical method but Regina’s wound still bleed. Her normally exuberant complexion was paler than the sheets that were wrapped around her arm to stop the bleeding. Medical supplies had been in short supply since the fighting began.

The dank air was almost too much to bear with the all-encompassing dreariness of their predicament. Charming had managed to board up the windows and fix the damage done to the integrity of the structure but it didn’t seem to be enough to keep everything in working order. Despite his claims, Rumple was no match for Donella who paid him little attention as she flung him across town with a mere flick of her wrist. Countless residents were currently on the front lines as Emma and Charming desperately tried to patch up Regina.

“Stop fussing; there are more important things you need to be focusing on. The final ingredients for the curse are only four miles into the forest, if you leave now you could be back by night fall and this could all be over.” Regina winced in pain, never losing her grip on Emma’s forearm.

“You are my priority right now. If you keep losing blood…” Emma’s head fell slightly as she kept the pressure on Regina’s lacerations. Charming placed a hand on Emma’s shoulder and began to take Regina’s arm from her.

“Why don’t you take a rest for a moment and get Regina some water, there should be a bucket of clean water in the kitchen still.” Emma questioned him with a savage gaze. “Please.” He asked. Emma begrudgingly lifted herself up and disappeared into the kitchen. As soon as she was out of earshot, Charming turned all of his attention on Regina.

“Stop making her pick.”

“What?”

“Stop making her pick something over you. She will always choose you. It makes her stronger knowing you’re safe. Let her love you.” Regina’s eyes widened with the revelation. They had been playing around the subject since Donella had attacked, never once revealing the True Love’s kiss that they had shared with anyone. Yet David spoke as if he had known the entire time. It hurt to hear it placed so blatantly in her face by an outsider, when she herself hadn’t let it sink in.

“One semi-clean glass of water for Your Majesty.” Emma rounded the corner with a large glass of water in Regina’s favorite cup that had somehow escaped the destruction. She sat cross legged next to her and made sure she drank the entire glass. The house began to rumble as a large grey light filtered through the slits of the boards covering the windows. Regina looked at Emma fear reflecting in her brown eyes.

 “Don’t move.” Emma lifted herself up and put her weight onto her knee as she collected herself.

“I won’t let you go alone.” Regina tried to stand but cried out in pain. Emma went to her side and lightly pushed her back to where she had been laying.

“I’m not alone. You’re always right next to me.” Emma brushed the hair from her forehead and placed a light kiss upon her hairline. She turned quickly to David. “Protect her.”

“With my life.” He replied.

Emma ran to the front door and swung it open. Donella was coyly floating above Miflin Street staring at what was left of the mayor’s mansion. Emma pushed through the ruble in the front yard and walked down the front pathway like she had done a million times since her first fateful night in Storybrooke. She studied the bricks that were laid to make the path and wished she had found her way to Regina sooner and not when the world was crumbling at their feet. She was ready to lay her life on the line if it meant Regina’s world kept spinning even if she wouldn’t be there to enjoy it.

“You seem to be missing a certain brass brunette that I used to be so fond of.” Donella had situated herself on a branch in the tree just beyond the front gate.

“This ends today, Donella. What is it going to take to get you to leave?”

“Simple really, what I’m due.” At the utterance of Emma’s possible fate, a red bolt of magic flew past her and knocked Donella off her perch. Emma spun around to see Regina leaning on the white pillar of the mansion trying to hold herself up.

“What are you doing get back inside.” Emma quickly put Regina’s good arm over her shoulder and started for the house, but Regina vanished from her arms.  Emma frantically spun and searched the yard, Regina was nowhere to be found and neither was Donella.

                ~~~~

It was pitch black, darker than any night she had ever experienced. The absence of light frightened Regina. She automatically lifted her arm to feel for any substance in the darkness. She could feel stone floors but nothing on either side of her. A pinprick of light began to dance through the darkness and Regina crawled toward it. Her arm still hung in the sling Charming had fashioned for her. As she approached the light, it began to sway. The dot of light became an orb and grew the closer Regina came to it. She didn’t dare touch it as the blinding light began to envelope the space around her. She could finally make out her surrounding and she found herself in a room she never thought she would have to step foot in again.

“Donella!!” Regina screamed until she could feel the veins in her neck strain against her skin. She began to rip through the belonging of the Black Fairy’s chambers. She had torrid memories of her time spent here. Mixed feelings of darkness and seduction flooded her mind. The Evil Queen had been at the height of her rage and vengeance when she had spent time here and Regina could feel the heaviness of it all.

“You always used to love coming here.” Donella snuck from the shadows and slithered around Regina drawing a line across her chest with her well-manicured hand.

“Why am I here?” Regina bit back the anger that was rising in her throat. She could feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins as she fought the impulse to slit Donella’s throat with the swords that adorned the walls.

“I thought we could use a moment alone to discuss this messy war.”

“I will not discuss the future of my family like a game. “

“Then I’ll be frank. The only way your precious Emma will not be a casualty is if you agree to my terms.” Regina began to retort but Donella quickly placed a finger over her lips to shush her. “You must leave and never return. No explanations, no contact just disappear into the night without a trace and your love with live to be a ripe old age.” Donella smiled out of spite and watched Regina’s expression turn grim.

“What do you hope to gain from me leaving?”

“I’m glad you asked. When you inevitably give into my demands, and I know you will. It will no doubt break your heart and I will be there to retrieve my payment. However should you ever return to her, I will take her heart and crush it in front of you. I will pull her soul from the fabric of time and I know you know what that feels like. Let me assure you it is twice as painful when it’s true love.”

“What makes you think I don’t have a way to defeat you?” Regina spit her words at Donella.

“You would have used it already. You have one hour to think it over.” Donella flicked her wrist and she was gone; leaving Regina with only her thoughts.

 

~~~~~~

The street was quiet like only a street in a small town at night could be. Even the crickets had found peace and were fast asleep. Night had fallen and her hours in Donella’s chambers had distorted her sense of time. Regina appeared in her front yard in the exact same location that she disappeared from. She knew she had been gone for a while but just how long she wasn’t sure. She walked up the brick walkway to her home and went straight to her bedroom. She pushed open the door and was greeted by a slumbering Emma. The woman was curled up in Regina’s bed hugging her pillow with fierce determination. Despite her stiffened position, Emma slept without a furrowed brow. Regina kneeled next to the bed and tucked a sunny blonde hair behind her ear.

_If only we were given the chance to be happy._

Regina leaned in and kissed her forehead as a solitary tear left her eye and hit her love’s cheek. Emma began to stir as Regina quickly went to her closet to pack a bag. She picked items out of necessity and size; trying to fit as many items as possible in one piece of luggage. She grabbed a framed picture from her vanity and took it out of its casing; hastily putting it into her pocket. She also grabbed the embossed hand mirror that sat next to it. She waved her hand over the mirror and whispered to the glass an incantation.

“Keep her in my sights despite the long nights apart.” She took one last look at her sleeping beauty and set a hastily written note on the bed stand beside her.

You are no longer in danger, my love. Take care of our son, I love you both more than you could ever know.

Under the guise of nightfall, the brunette slipped away with her solitary packed bag and a photograph in her pocket. Its straight edges would soon be crinkled from constant love. It was the only family photo that existed of Emma, Regina and Henry together. Henry had surprised them at dinner one evening and snapped the shot as he ran in to be a part of it. Their faces showed genuine affection and candor. She hadn’t noticed before but she could see the growing love in Emma’s eyes and wondered how she could have been so surprised when she returned her affections.  The night was chilly and Regina pulled the collar of her jacket up to brace against the wind. She hadn’t expected the chilliest part of her would be her heart.

“I wasn’t quite sure if you would actually leave. You’ve always been a slight bit unpredictable and the Evil Queen in love well…there’s a line I never thought I would say. She would be the most unpredictable of them all.”

“You’re gloating is unbecoming Donella.  Stick to your strengths. Shut up and look pretty.”

“Hmm, there’s the woman I remember.” Donella traced her bottom lip with her tongue.

“Shouldn’t you be leaving, you got what you wanted.”

“And what is it that you think I wanted?” Donella smiled to herself. Regina’s face contorted in confusion as her jaw slacked. Donella replied before Regina could retort. “Oh please let me guess, that’s the fun part. You thought I wanted your chance at true love. How boring, what would I do with that? You’re free to return to Storybrooke at any time and you can even have your dashing Emma for all eternity if you like.”

Regina didn’t listen to another word from Donella’s mouth. She was a puff of purple smoke as she heard Donella’s laughter ring in her ears. She used her magic to take her to Emma’s exact location but she didn’t appear in her bedroom. Instead she appeared in front of Granny’s; she halted as she noticed the difference in the building.

Its siding was falling off and the shutters seemed to have aged a decade in her absence. Regina turned to look at the rest of the town square realizing that all the buildings were different. Some had new paint or signs, while other businesses were completely foreign to her.  She began the quick ascent of the three stairs into Granny. The normal jingle of the bell had been replaced by a small beep from a device placed next to the door.

Regina was taken aback by the interior remodel of Granny’s despite the deceivingly decrepit outside. The walls were a subtle beige with black and white photography hung on them. The retro tiling had been replaced with wood flooring and the booths were now oversized coaches and chairs. Everything was new until she saw a head of unmistakable blonde hair; Emma’s back was turned to her.  With a gentle tap to her shoulder, Emma turned.

The cataclysmic reason Donella had let Regina come back to Emma smacked her in the face. Her breath caught in her chest as she saw her. The blonde’s face was surrounded by the lines of time passed and her once vibrant eyes now shown with a dull reflection, black circles permanently lay below them. Upon closer inspection small flecks of gray were peppered in her normally golden locks. Regina looked to the wall where the calendar normally hung and gasped at the date.      


	5. Tick Tock goes the Clock

The years had passed in a flurry of tragedies and sobering realities. Henry had long since grown and left for greener pastures, as children often do. Emma’s ill-advised affair with Killian had been just that. The call of the sea had finally proved too much for the pirate; who sailed off without a goodbye and as for Regina. She had left such a hole in Emma that even the utterance of her name was forbidden. It had been so many years since her disappearance that Emma had started to notice grey hairs in the mirror and couldn’t reason with herself as to why she had never left Storybrooke.

She had little rituals that carried her from day to day and a job that did nothing for her. Her favorite of these rituals was coffee at Granny’s at 11. It was late enough that the breakfast crowd had left and the lunch crowd hadn’t quite become a nuisance. She found the moment of solitude refreshing.  Though she had so many of them, this kind of solitude was like being in the eye of the storm; alone but surrounded. She hadn’t kept in touch with much of anyone since the final battle for Storybrooke, which was coming up on an anniversary she was readily denying. Her soul craved rest and yet she hadn’t quit found the courage to find a new life beyond the town line.

It was an idle Tuesday at exactly 11:00am and she sipped the lukewarm devastatingly strong brew that occupied her cup. The beep of the front door sounded and the clicking of heels echoed through the café, but Emma didn’t lift her head. Instead she swirled another packet of sugar into her cup. She watched as the liquid responded to the twirl of her spoon, all the while ignoring the figure standing behind her. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned.

“May I sit here?” The velvet of a familiar voice pulled Emma from the small world of her coffee and shot adrenaline through her system. She couldn’t recall the last time she had heard the gilt-edged tone of Regina Mills but she steeled herself to see the face that had abandoned her all those years ago.

“No, I was just leaving.” Emma didn’t look at her as she searched her pockets for cash to pay for the coffee. She slammed a five on the counter and brushed past Regina without a glance.  Just as her hand reached for the door knob, she felt the reassuring hold of Regina’s hand on her arm.

“Please.”            

Emma twirled around with a vicious comment in tow but stopped it at her lips when she saw Regina’s water logged eyes. She couldn’t help but notice that despite the  years it had been since she had seen Regina, she looked exactly the same as the day she had left. She swallowed her hatred and pulled Regina back to the empty hallway in between the diner and its connected inn. She placed Regina on the bench that lined the hallway and turned her gaze to the view out the nearest window.

“Talk.”

“You have every reason to be angry with me. I left in the middle of the night with only a note for an explanation but you have to understand.”

“No I don’t.” Emma crossed her arms over her body. Regina rose and touched her arm again, this time more tentatively. Just as quickly as she had grazed her fingers on Emma’s arm, they were shrugged off. “You lost the right to touch me.”

“At least look at me…Please.” Regina pleaded.  Moments passed before Emma slowly turned toward her. “I know that no matter what I say, it won’t make up for me leaving but I’m here now and I’m never leaving again and no matter how much time has passed. I lov-“

“Regina, Please don’t say you love me… I can’t say it back. The world fell apart and you left, without a trace or a single goodbye. I know I didn’t have any claim to you no one ever could but dammit Regina.” Emma let the rage of years of suppressed anger and pain sire red lines into her face with the tears that flooded her cheeks.

“I’m sorry.” Regina offered nothing else of an explanation but her eyes danced with a thousand words unspoken. She lifted the heavy arm that dangled at Emma’s side and intertwined their fingers. Emma collapsed into Regina’s arms with even the slightest touch and wept the weight of lost time onto her shoulders. “Where’s Henry?”

“He’s grown, family of his own and you missed every second of it. How could you?” Emma stepped back slightly and let her pain be seen.

The horror of just how cruel Donella’s plan had been sunk into Regina’s skin. Not only had she stolen her chance for a true love and a family but she stole the thing most precious, time. Regina wasn’t sure just how awful the past years had been but she could see the warn lines of heartbreak and loneliness etched into Emma’s face. They looked all too familiar. She had worn the same face when she reigned over the Enchanted Forest.

“You have to leave.” Emma disentangled herself from Regina’s embrace. “As much as I want to, too much time has passed. Don’t come back.” Emma took one last look at Regina and slammed the back door as she left.

Regina walked out of the diner and into the alley way, completely oblivious to her surroundings, the utter sorrow that engulfed her edged on shattering her spirit. She leaned against the wall of the  building next to her. Her head hung back and meet the cool stone as her lip quivered under the pressure of her emotions. Her legs gave way under her as her back slowly slid down the wall. She crumpled into a small pile on the ground, not worried about the condition of her dress as it meet the soot laden street. Her tears mingled with the dirt on the ground and she ran her fingers through the pin sized puddles they made.

“Ah now this is more like it.” 

Regina’s head shot up to see Donella floating just above the street in a seated position, legs crossed. The fairy circled her fingers in the air and the numerous tears that scattered the street lifted from the dirt and rained upward. They danced in the light and one by one joined the others. As the final tear joined its companions, they rushed for the vile Donella wore around her neck. The lid sealed itself and the fairy extended her legs to the ground lightly landing on her toes. She walked closer to Regina.

“Now you’ve paid your debt.” A contract flickered into existence along with a quill. Donella promptly signed below the glowing papers cursive writing. As soon as her signature adorned the paper, it exploded and Regina rushed at Donella. Her fingers coiled around Donella’s neck as she slammed her into the wall behind her.

“What did you do?!?” Regina screamed inches from her face.

“Normally, I would enjoy this but I really do have more pressing things to attend to.” Donella choked out the words. The corners of her mouth curled upward and she snapped her fingers. With the motion, the Black Fairy was out of Regina’s grasp and floating above her once again. “If you really must know, Emma was never what I wanted. It was the purest of your sorrow that I desired. It’s a very powerful weapon really. Pain can conjure many a weapon. As for your precious fairy prophecy, it’s always easier to pray on already existing fears than to have to create new one. That being said, we won’t be seeing each other again.  I’ll miss you and our little escapades.” She blew a kiss toward Regina and disappeared.

Regina drug herself from the alley and into the open square. The morning’s light was brighter than she realized and she covered her eyes with the shadow from her hand. She wasn’t certain where she was going just that she had to move one foot in front of the other or she may never move again.

“Regina!!” A voice ran out through the tunnel of her vision.  It was a whisper at first but grew louder with each repetition of her name. “Regina.” She felt a hand rest on the small of her back but she refused to turn to see where the next piece of bad news might come from. A hand spun her around and she was face to face with her Emma. The vibrant and smiling Emma she had left slumbering in her bed that morning.

Elation and confusion swirled in Regina’s chest as she took in the full site of an unaged Emma. She lifted her hands to her face and held it. She traced her jaw line and each eyebrow to make sure she wasn’t an illusion. Emma blushed softly as Regina continued to take in her face one facet at a time.

“Where have you been?” Emma smiled through her question.

“Emma.” She whispered. “I feel like I have been waiting forever to see you.” She bowed Emma’s head slightly and placed a kiss on her forehead, bringing her into her arms. 

“Um you ok?”

 “Yes I’m wonderful.”

“What happened, I saw your note and you were gone. Where’s Donella?”

“She got what she came for? We won’t be seeing her again. I’ll tell you all about it after I hug our son.”

“She can’t be up to anything good with whatever she took. We have to go after her.”

“Yes I’m sure she’s not but that’s a fight for another day, my love.” Regina burrowed herself in Emma’s arms content with the happiness she had found.

**~~~~**

She sat outside the Storybrooke court house slumped against a park bench. The streets weren’t particularly busy this time of day so she sat with little interference. The wind had picked up slightly and given the air a cool chill as fall finally crept its head in. Emma didn’t remember much about the seasons over the past few years, it’s difficult to care when your head is buried in the sand but suddenly she was seeing everything in vivid detail. As sickening as it sounded to her in her head, she knew love did that to people.

A platinum band had been burning a hole in her pocket for nearly a month. She fidgeted with the band between her finger and thumb humming lightly to herself a song she thought she had forgotten. It hadn’t occurred to her that finding ‘the moment’ would be such a monumental struggle. Each time she had mustered up the courage to pull the band from her pocket, something would interrupt her. Now despite her dry throat and the butterflies in her stomach, she was determined to get it right. It hadn’t been long since Regina had waltzed into her heart and she wasn’t going to lose another precious second, no matter how hasty it might have seemed.

She now understood every moment of pain in her life, every misfortune had a reason. They had all lead her to this moment. Perhaps they hadn’t followed the path that had been intended but they had eventually found their way to each other. The devastating torn years of their pasts had set them up for something greater that either of them could have imagined.

“Emma, what are you doing out here, it’s freezing?”

“Oh I,.. umm. Sit with me.” Emma motioned for Regina to sit on the bench next to her. She had been so focused on what she was going to say she hadn’t seen Regina come out of the court house.

“I wanted to talk to you for a moment. There’s something I want to ask you.”

“This doesn’t sound good. Whatever the problem is Emma, we can face it. Just don’t give up on us so quickly.”

“No, Regina you don’t understand. The night before you left, I planned on changing our relationship for good. I was ready to tell you how I felt all these years and then you vanished. I spent the last few years crumbling into myself. My relationship with Killian had left me a shell of myself and I didn’t know how to pick myself up but you did. Little by little you reminded me who I was and showed me who we could be together.” Regina’s eyes glistened as she began to realize what Emma was doing. “I don’t ever want to live like that again. You’ve shown me I don’t have to.”

Emma fiddled with the band in her jeans pocket and retrieved it. She stood stoically as the emotions on Regina’s face changed completely, melting into utter joy. The sheer panic of Emma’s confessions gave way to a lightness her features hadn’t worn in years. The light breeze in the air framed her face with stray chocolate hairs; Emma pushed them from her brow and let her hand linger on Regina’s cheek.

“Yes.”

“What?! I didn’t even get to ask you!” Emma smirked unable to hide her grin.

“Ok then ask me.”

“There hasn’t been much in my life that I have trusted or that you could say I have had faith in. But you, I never had a doubt.” Regina took the collar of Emma’s red leather jacket and pulled her close. Emma laughed despite herself. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. Will you marry me?” She placed her hand over Regina’s heart and leaned her forehead against hers.

“Yes. You were worth the wait.”

_A love story can be told in a moment or over many years. It takes many pieces to see the puzzle of how one falls in love. This particular story was how the Evil Queen found her heart in a Swan dressed as a Savior._

 

_fin_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read my story, I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave me your thoughts in the comments.


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